Tunisia – Control of outbreak of scabies declared in school center in Jendouba

The cycle of “scabies” infection, registered last week among dozens of students from the “Al-Fajouj” middle school who live in the dormitory of the “Oum Al-Bashna” primary school, to whom members of siblings introduced the illness, stopped after the structures of the Ministries of Health and Education were capable to count and identify the cases, and subject infected people to prevention and sterilization of establishments.

The situation necessitated the suspension of classes at the primary school in question, for one day (during the past week), planning to sterilize it before reopening and resuming activities the next day. The infected individuals and their relatives were subjected to health monitoring before finishing treatment and returning to school according to medical examinations. The regional education delegate of Jendouba, Rim Maaroufi confirmed this.

During the last week, after the return of students from school holidays, the structures of the Ministries of Education and Health of the governorate of Jendouba documented cases of scabies among the students of the primary school “Oum Al- Bashna” and the “Al-Fajouj” college, which initially required the closure of the dormitories of the “Al-Fajouj” middle school for days and its sterilization, and it was the same for the school primary in which infections transmitted by brothers and sisters living in said dormitory were recorded, the number of which exceeded 40 students.

The dormitories of secondary schools and high schools in the governorate of Jendouba, which top the number of dormitories in the whole country, are in dire need of daily control and monitoring, especially given the dilapidation of their infrastructure and their situation with high levels of humidity, in addition to malnutrition and deficiencies, according to what several parents and students have confirmed.